Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-01-29
In the Jury Room.

~, ~
he case SCI enc q cl earse noug sto
' alloy tenSy ears 81 ~ q q b
The plaintiffssue l the defendant
on a debt. The defendant admit
| ted that he contracted the debt.
and that be had never paid it. He
tried to show, as an Offset, that be
once lent the plaintiff some money,
but he failed even to establish the
date of the transaction. The
amount sued for was 800, and the
Judge charged us to return a ver-
dict in favor of the plaintiff.
When we got settled in the jury
room and elected a foreman, he
said:
well I suppose we must return
verdict for the full amounti'
well, I don'tp replied one Of the
lurors-a man whom l. had selected
az an honest, conscientious juror.
'Rut isn't it plain casef'
No, sir, the plaintiff had two
lawyers, while the defendant had
but one. There was nothing fair
about that.
But thejudge charged US to re-
turn verdict for. the amount ob
served another juror.
'Sposing he didi' exclaimed an
old man on the left; IF the judge
knows more about this case than
we do then what are we here forf'
(which of 'em was the plaintiff,
anyhow solemnly inquired SOL
emn juror, whom l had seen sleep
ing through most of. the trial.
The red headed man, of course,
replied a young man who wore We
ry tight pantaloons and chewed
Eplugstobaeep1with great ambition.
-sM asEitisWhy, 1 thought it was
the fat mani exclaimed juror No.
6.
The foreman suggested that we
mark on slips of paper the amount
zach juror thought the plaintiff en-
TJit,sd to. His suggestion was fol
lowed and tie amounts run from
fifteen cents to 1t the -. 9
- iG seems TO me, -he-reHected,
that the defendant either owes lin
500 or nothing
4 don't believe he owes him nuth.
in',' replied one Of the twelve.
'But you heard the evidence
Hang the evidenced!
Some one suggested that we add
up the sums marked and strike an
average.
Another suggested that we re-
turn verdict for the defendant.
A third offered to flip cent and
head or tail for the S400 or moth
ing.
a fourth one wanted some one to
tell him if the debt wasn't outlaw
ed.
1t was finally discovered that we
stood five for the PLAINTIFF and sew
ell for the defendant and the fore
man wanted to know what we should
do.
sWell,' said one Of the seven, IF
we agree with you in this case will
you agree with us in the nexti'
he couldn't promise, and the
leader of the dissenters declared
that he would remain in that room
a lifetime before he would agree
with the FIVE.
at the end of an hour there we're
eight men willing to return a YER
dict for S75.
At the end of two hours there
were seven men who didn't care a
cent, and five who were in favor Of
the defendant.
At the end of three hours six men
were in favor Of 500, and the 9th
er six were playing poker.
In another hour two of US favor
ed S4OO and the other ten had made
up their minds that two out of the
three lawyers ought to be in Jail.
We finally marched in with the an
Houncementt that we couldn't agree,
when the juror who didn't know
plaintiff from defendant raised his
voice and protested:
Judge, We could have agreed all
right if anybody had told us what
the case was about! think we
ought to be furnished with dia.
grams!'
1r4L Al thA EihIn